The Clusterfuck Known As Verizon

[Jack]

Phone service has been sporadic for 12 days, with normal dial tone only 10% of the time at first, and now only 25% of the time. The rest of the time there has been a buzz without dial tone, or completely dead line. Testing reveals that problem is somewhere along their outside lines. First technician was available 5 days after onset of problem, but on that day an electronic message said that the problem is now fixed and technician is not necessary.

But the problem was not fixed.

New appt. made for today, 12 days after onset of problem, along with a complaint to BBB. But this morning a human got thru and advised that the tech may not show up because of heavy workloads in the area.

12 days with phone service at 25% at best.

The idiots want to upgrade and sell all sorts of gadgets yet cannot even provide basic, reliable phone service. I'm an old fart who remembers as far back as the late 1940s and can tell ya that phone service was never this bad.

Switching companies won't help cuz Verizon maintains the infrastructure.

[N8N]

Had the exact same issue in Maryland. Problem persisted for months. Eventually got a cable modem and used cellular for my voice needs, much more reliable.

nate

[Eric]

I'd try calling the FCC.

AFAIK, they are required by federal law to address problems within a set period of time. If they fail to do this, you should be able to file a complaint with the FCC (for what that's worth).

At the very least, I'd be asking them for a credit for the days the phone was unusable!

Eric Law

[dadiOH]

Been there, done that. Just about any time after a heavy rain. ____________

Been there, done that too. _____________

Complaining to BBB is spitting in the wind. ______________

Advise the human that that is not acceptable. Tell them your aged mother/father needs phone service to reset their pace maker and that if he/she dies it is their fault. Mention that their favorite nephew is a high powered lawyer. _______________

Call customer/business service and get a credit. ______________

Agreed. Life was much simpler when you could just say, "Give me Aardvark 42597".

The really frustrating thing IME is that when a tech finally gets there he can't find anything. There are techs and there are TECHS. Pray you get the latter.

[BaltimoreSux]

I love Verizon. never had a problem with service at apt, businessor cell!

[M Q]

BBB won't do anything. But your state has a "public utilities commission" or some such similar governmental body that regulates basic phone service. (basic phone service is a "regulated monopoly" most everywhere). File a complaint with them. That will probably get things moving at Verizon.

[Rod Speed]

No they dont with the cellphone system.

[popa235]

"federal trade commision" Because its a public utility... also call your county 911 from another phone that works and tell them how long you have been left without a phone.... they don't like holes in their opperation...lol

[bigjim]

[Jerry]

Ask them to give you a cell phone to use until your landline is fixed. Call the consumer advocate at your local TV station.

Jerry

[don]

And what infrastructure do you think the cell phone system connects to? Cell sites connect to their host MTSOs, which have trunks to the local ILEC (Verizon, in this case) or a carrier (which could also be Verizon/MCI) in this case.

[Rod Speed]

don wrote

They dont use the residential lines that are the problem for him.

And when those have a problem, they kick arse and get them fixed.

Something a single residential customer doesnt have the muscle to achieve.

[Seth]

So you're either lucky, an idiot, or a liar.

I'd had Verizontal claiming "no signal" in the middle of Times Square.

They regularly lost signal in downtown Minneapolis. (They probably still do, but it's not my problem any more.) Apparently they spent more on bus advertising about how good their network is than on actually making their notwork any good.

Seth

[hallerb]

dONT GET FIOS! The internet part is great but the phone service part is unreliable and they really dont care. after 2 months of troubles, stepped up to multiple calls daily and the media it finally got fixed. it was the T1 router the first on site technician suspected.

worse they wouldnt let you go back to copper.

the problem we had effected near 800 people in the local; office

[Nate Nagel]

couldn't possibly be worse than their copper phone service. That doesn't work either.

nate

[hallerb]

copper fails when it rains, it shorts the lines where they leak.

trust me FIOS is WORSE

[Tekkie®]

FTC will not get involved.

Call 911 !!! E gads you'll get a cop showing at the door asking why you did that. it's no emergency sir you are a luser.

[willshak]

on 9/6/2007 5:59 PM don said the following:

I recently changed my wireless from Nextel to Sprint. I figured that since they merged, the infrastructure would be the same. It isn't. I can get 3 bars on my Nextel in my basement. With Sprint, I get 1 bar if I'm lucky. Usually I get No Service. If I start a phone call outside, where I can get 2 bars (Nextel 4 bars), and walk inside the house while on the phone, I get a dropped call with a faded signal message. Don't worry. I am in the trial period and am going back to Nextel.

[jthread]

we're aware of the problem and we are working on it!

[coffee]

I feel compelled to reply because the problem isnt just Verizon. The real problem is the situation with monopolies in the business. It doesnt matter what company you pick for phone service, Cable Service or internet. They all treat the customers the same. The reason they do is because there is no incentive to not do it.

You hear of people that "Have no problem" with these companies but thats because they actually have not had to interact with the company over a problem or they are just spewing fud in the newsgroup.

So, How to solve the problem? The one thing that always gets their attention is to not pay the bill. Before not paying the bill make sure you DO write and complain to the utilities commission in your area.

When comcast calls me and wants to sell me their phone service over internet I tell them Im sorry but because of their poor track record in customer service Iam not interested. Then they want to try and sell me on digital tv. I tell them the same thing.

Unless something is done about these companies its going to get alot worse. My advice is withhold payment on the bill until your problem is resolved. Make sure you call them to let them know and also ask for credit for the time you where out of service.

Best of luck,